A new penal settlement for recalcitrant convicts

A new penal settlement for recalcitrant convicts is established at the mouth of the Coal River (later Hunter River) at “King’s Town” (later Newcastle). First Commandant, Charles Throsby arrives with 20 soldiers and 20 prisoners. This includes Irish convicts implicated in the Castle Hill uprising. The settlement is widely seen as a "place for the reception of desperate characters" and "choice rogues". Convicts, ticket-of-leave people and cedar getters begin to traverse the Gosford-Wyong area country on a more regular basis. (Vinnicombe, Predilection and Prediction: A Study of Aboriginal Sites in the Gosford-Wyong Region; Blair 2000, 11; University of Newcastle timeline)

Authorities established an official system at the penal settlement in Newcastle of using Aborigines as guards and trackers to prevent the escape of convicts (NMA).